Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-02-28
The Sources of Rivers.

Most people have probably heard the
story of the house in Ohio which is said
to be so exactly balanced upon the
boundary line between the basins of
the great lakes and the OhioTiIer that
the rain falling upon one side of the
gable roofgoes to- join the st. Lawrence
and the ocean, while on the other side
it helps to-swel1 a fittle byook that
finally mingles with fhe Ohio and the
gulf. There is a more wonderful place
than this IN India. Almostfve hum
dred miles due west of Calcutta is the
Ammerkantak mountain, wlrichis place
of great sanctity in the eycsof the Hin
docs, owing ito the remarkable fact
that it is the source ofone of the large
rivers of India, and Of feeders of three
other rivers that are among the great
est in the peninsula The torrents that
flow down its sides travel to all the
cardinal points Of the compass. The
Ncrbudda, which takes itsrise here,
winds its way over eight hundred miles
of plain before it empties into the In
dian ocean. The three otha great riv-
ers that are fed from Mount Amrner-
kantak are the Godavery, .he Mahan-
uddy, and the Some.
The natives of India have a great
reverence for the sources OF a number
of their largest rivers, whose waters by
means of irrigating work, are often
used in times of drought to nourish the
soil and prevent or mitigate famine
The Godavery, the most important riy-
er in south India, takes its rise in
brook that issues from hillside near
the village of Nassik. The spot where
this brook gushes from the rocks is APP
preached by a flight Of $40 stone steps,
at the top of which is Il great stone
platform built at the foot Of the rock
from which the stream issues. An
image under large canopy has been SO
placed ihat the water poms out of its
mouth and then goes sparkling down
the hill. From this spot the stream
flows, nine hundred miles right across
the peninsula, growing on the way into
a mighty river, and draining 10000
square miles. The source of the Coda
very is one of the sights Of the Bombay
presidency.
Mr.. W. ID. Cooley, the geographer.
made a curious biander about the head
stream of the Lnapula riSer, which
unites with the Lualaba to form the
upper Congo. This stream is the
Chambesi, which empties into Lake
,Bangweolo. Cooley, ndsled by the
similarity in the names, thought the
Chambesi was the upper waters of the
Zambesi, and it appears On his map as
part of the Zambesi system. 1t is an
interesting fact, shown by the latest
discoveries, that the Chambesi which
for some years has been regarded as
the ultimate source of the Congo must
now yield to the Lualaba, which is the
real headwaters of the mighty river.
One little stream, whose waters flow
from river to river until they finally
join the Amazon, runs for ten or fif-'
teen miles by the side of The sources.
of the great Paraguay. Though they
flow parallel to each other, and only
two or three miles apart, they run in
opposite directions. Canoes are often
hauled across the intervening portage,
and in this way it possible fora small
boat 10 travel from the mouth of the
Amazon TO Bucnos Ayres along the
inland waters of South America, and
with Il portage of only two or three
miles.--N. !. SIN.